https://www.growweedeasy.com/shorter-light-period-harvest-potency
Nebula's answer (read whole article as it has a lot more than just this):
So to answer your question, when you give the plant shorter periods of light each day, you are causing the buds to mature faster. However, because the plant is getting less light (less time to make energy with photosynthesis) each day, the buds are going to be smaller than if the plant was given the longer periods of light. Also, the plant will mature faster, and so this also reduces yields.
In my experience, here are the cases when growers benefit from giving plans shorter light periods than 12 hours during the end of the flowering stage:
- For strains that come from the equator where light levels are often near 12-12 (usually sativa plants) reducing the flowering light period to 10-14 or even 8-16 is
sometimes needed to get the plant to mature.
- Also for some Sativa and Haze strains, the normal flowering period is 3-4+ months, and shorter light periods can be used to "force" the buds to mature faster
- In cases of extreme heat, sometimes the yield loss from shorter light periods is worth the reduced heat, especially if someone is just trying to get their plants to
survive until harvest
- Any other case where getting the plant to ripen faster outweighs the potential loss of yields, like if you knew you were moving to a new home soon